Work machines are commonly used to excavate earth or other material from a geographic location such as, for example, a construction site. A work machine typically includes a ground engaging tool, such as, for example, a bucket or shovel to remove earth or material from the surface of the geographic location. A work machine operator may control the movement of the ground engaging tool to excavate earth or other material from the geographic location to shape the surface to conform to a desired surface configuration.
The ground engaging tool of a work machine may be powered by a hydraulic system. A typical hydraulic system includes a series of hydraulic actuators, which may be, for example, hydraulic cylinders, that are interconnected with a work implement linkage that mounts the ground engaging tool. The hydraulic system may also include a series of control valves that govern the rate and direction of fluid flow into and out of each hydraulic actuator. By coordinating the fluid flow to and from each hydraulic actuator, the overall motion of the work implement linkage and the ground engaging tool may be controlled.
An operator may control the motion of the ground engaging tool on the work machine to excavate earth from a geographic location to achieve the desired surface configuration, which may be, for example, a surface having a certain slope or a trench having a certain length, width, and depth. In many cases, a substantial amount of earth, or other material, must be excavated to achieve the desired surface configuration. The operator may have to make several measurements of the current elevation of the surface of the geographic location to determine when the proper amount of material has been excavated and the desired surface configuration achieved.
To reduce the amount of measuring required, a work machine may include a positioning system that indicates the position of the ground engaging tool relative to the work machine. For example, a series of position sensors may be engaged with the ground engaging tool or the work implement linkage. Based on information provided by the sensors, a control system may determine the position of the ground engaging tool relative to the work machine. This positional information may be provided to the operator, who may use the information to estimate the current surface location of the area being excavated. In this manner, the positioning system may reduce the amount of measuring time required during an excavation procedure.
A work machine may also include a display system to provide the positional information to an operator in a graphical format. For example, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,227 to Kalafut et al., a work machine may include a display system that is configured to show the location of the ground engaging tool relative to the body of the work machine and the work site. As the display system indicates the position of the ground engaging tool relative to the work machine, the operator may use the display system to estimate the current elevation of the surface of the geographic location.
However, the positional information provided by this type of display system may be insufficient to allow the operator to efficiently excavate a geographic location. For example, this type of display system does not indicate the location of the ground engaging tool relative to the desired surface configuration. In addition, this type of display system does not indicate the current surface level of the current geographic location relative to the desired surface configuration.
The display system of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above.